London SaaS go-to-market hiring market: H1 2025 review

London's SaaS go-to-market hiring market in the first half of 2025 was selective rather than shut: overall UK vacancies kept falling and candidates were easier to find, but funding held up, AI companies raised a record share of capital, and employers kept competing hard for a narrow group of proven enterprise sellers, solutions engineers and revenue operations specialists.

This review pulls together the published data on the London SaaS hiring market for H1 2025 (labour market statistics, recruitment surveys and venture funding) and sets out what it means for founders, revenue leaders and candidates planning the second half of the year. Where we describe patterns in go-to-market hiring that are not captured in published data, we say so and keep the claims qualitative.

The short version: H1 2025 in five points

• UK vacancies fell for the 35th consecutive quarter, to 736,000 in March to May 2025 (ONS).
• Candidate availability rose at the fastest pace since December 2020 in the May recruitment survey, while permanent placements kept falling (KPMG and REC).
• Starting salaries for permanent hires rose at the fastest pace since August 2024, though still below the long-run average (KPMG and REC).
• UK venture investment reached around $8bn in H1 2025, up 3% on H2 2024, with AI taking a record 30% share and London accounting for 68% of UK AI rounds (HSBC Innovation Banking and Dealroom).
• Employer National Insurance rose from 13.8% to 15% on 6 April 2025, with the secondary threshold cut to £5,000, raising the cost of every UK hire.

What did the UK labour market look like in H1 2025?

The headline numbers describe a cooling market. The ONS reported on 10 June 2025 that the estimated number of vacancies fell by 63,000 (7.9%) on the quarter to 736,000 in March to May 2025, and was 150,000 (16.9%) lower than a year earlier. It was the 35th consecutive quarterly decline.

The KPMG and REC UK Report on Jobs for May 2025, published in June, told the same story from the recruiter side. Permanent placements fell at a slightly sharper rate than in April. Candidate availability rose at the steepest pace for nearly four and a half years, since December 2020. Total vacancies were still falling, though at the weakest rate since September 2024. And, notably for anyone setting pay, starting salaries for permanent joiners rose at the fastest pace since August 2024, although growth remained below its long-run average.

Put simply: there were more people looking and fewer roles being advertised, but employers who did hire were still paying up to get the people they wanted. That pattern matches what most London SaaS revenue leaders described through the first half of the year: plenty of applicants, few who were a clear fit.

How did SaaS and tech funding hold up?

Funding is the leading indicator for GTM hiring. Most scale-ups add quota-carrying headcount within two or three quarters of a round. The data for H1 2025 was steadier than the labour market figures suggest.

HSBC Innovation Banking and Dealroom reported that UK companies raised around $8bn (£5.9bn) of venture capital in the first half of 2025, up 3% on the second half of 2024. AI startups raised $2.4bn, a record 30% of all UK VC. London startups accounted for 68% of the 179 AI funding rounds tracked in the UK. Enterprise software raised $1.9bn, with health tech and fintech each at $2.3bn. HSBC Innovation Banking also noted that UK startups have raised more than $3bn every quarter for 26 consecutive quarters.

The Tech Nation Report 2025, launched in June, put the combined value of the UK tech sector at $1.2 trillion and said London accounts for 59% of that value. It reported that UK startups raised more than $7bn in the first half of 2025, with 81% going to growth-stage companies. One in three founders surveyed said talent availability limited their ability to scale.

What does this mean for the London SaaS hiring market?

Three forces shaped GTM hiring in London in the first half of 2025.

First, capital concentrated. Money flowed to AI companies and to growth-stage businesses. That means the companies hiring most aggressively for sales and marketing in London were disproportionately AI-native or AI-repositioned, and later-stage. Seed and Series A companies outside AI raised more cautiously and hired more cautiously, often adding one senior seller rather than a pod.

Second, efficiency stayed the priority. After two years of focus on payback and burn, most boards expected new GTM headcount to show a clear route to productivity. The questions we heard most from founders were not "how many AEs should we hire?" but "how quickly will this person pay back, and what do they need from us to get there?"

Third, the cost of each UK hire rose. The employer National Insurance rate increased from 13.8% to 15% from 6 April 2025, and the secondary threshold at which employers start paying fell from £9,100 to £5,000. For a salaried seller on a London package, that is a meaningful increase in employment cost before any pay rise. Some companies responded by hiring fewer, more senior people; others by looking harder at total package structure.

Which GTM roles were in demand in London in H1 2025?

Published data does not break down London vacancies by GTM role, so the table below reflects the patterns we and the wider London recruitment market observed across briefs, conversations and offers in the first half of 2025. Treat it as directional.

For role-by-role detail, see our specialism pages for account executives, enterprise and strategic sales, solutions engineering and revenue operations.

Why are employers struggling to hire when there are more candidates?

This was the most common frustration of H1 2025. The REC survey showed candidate availability rising at its fastest pace since 2020, yet hiring managers still reported that the people they wanted were hard to find. Both things are true, for three reasons.

• The available pool is not the target pool: Many candidates on the market in 2025 came from layoffs in sectors and segments that do not match what growing London SaaS companies need. A transactional SMB seller is rarely a fit for a six-figure enterprise AI deal.
• The best people are staying put: Sellers who are hitting quota at a well-funded company have little reason to move in an uncertain market. They need a clearly better opportunity, not a marginally higher base.
• The bar went up: Employers asked for more evidence: quota attainment over several years, deal sizes, sales cycle length, references from managers. That narrows the pool fast.

Buyer behaviour is also changing what employers look for. Gartner reported in June 2025 that 61% of B2B buyers in its survey prefer a rep-free buying experience overall. That does not mean sellers matter less in complex deals; it means the sellers who are hired need to add value that a website or a self-serve trial cannot: insight, a point of view on the buyer's business, and the ability to manage a buying committee. Employers hiring for those skills found fewer candidates who could evidence them.

What happened to GTM pay in London in H1 2025?

The REC data showed permanent starting salaries across the UK rising at their fastest pace since August 2024 in May, but below the long-run average. In London SaaS GTM, we saw the same split as in demand: pay for scarce profiles (enterprise AEs with strong attainment, technical presales, RevOps leaders) held firm or rose, while pay for roles with large applicant pools was flatter.

The more noticeable shift was in package structure rather than headline numbers. Employers looked harder at on-target earnings (OTE) splits, accelerators and ramp arrangements, and candidates scrutinised quota realism more carefully. A high OTE on an unachievable quota is worth less than a lower OTE with a team that is mostly hitting target, and experienced sellers know it. We cover how to set pay and package in our salary guide.

How did hiring processes change?

• More stages, longer timelines: Many companies added a case study, mock discovery call or pipeline plan to AE and leadership processes. Done well, this improves hiring quality; done badly, it adds weeks and loses candidates to faster competitors.
• Evidence over narrative: Requests for quota attainment history, P60 or payslip evidence of earnings, and manager references became routine for senior sellers.
• Hybrid as standard: Most London SaaS GTM roles settled on two or three office days a week. Fully remote roles attracted large applicant volumes, which made screening harder.
• Founder involvement: In earlier-stage companies, founders stayed close to every GTM hire, which helped candidate experience but sometimes slowed decisions.

What should London SaaS employers do in H2 2025?

What should GTM candidates in London do in H2 2025?

• Lead with numbers: Quota, attainment by year, average deal size, sales cycle and logos (where you can share them). Vague claims do not get past the first screen in this market.
• Show AI fluency: Be ready to explain how you use AI tools in prospecting, call preparation or analysis, without overstating it.
• Interview the quota: Ask what percentage of the team hit target last year, how territories are assigned, and how much pipeline a new hire inherits.
• Target funded, growing companies: Check when the company last raised and how much. A company that raised in the last two quarters is more likely to be adding headcount.
• Use specialist recruiters: Many London SaaS GTM roles are filled before they are advertised. Register your CV to hear about them.

Outlook for the second half of 2025

We expect the second half of 2025 to look much like the first: selective, with demand concentrated in AI-native and growth-stage companies, and continued competition for proven enterprise sellers, solutions engineers and RevOps talent. The trend in the REC survey of easing declines in vacancies is encouraging, but the published data does not yet show a turn in permanent placements. If funding continues at H1 levels, GTM hiring should follow it with a lag, most likely visible towards the end of the year and into 2026.